UNDERSTANDING ECONOMICS IN ONE HOUR 1 – Overview Looking about us, what we see is the passing show. Despite every appearance of reality, it is ephemeral, ever-changing. It is Prospero’s “insubstantial pageant”. What we see is a “result” of something else, always a manifestation rather than a “cause”. It is difficult to discern the real […]

Dear Steven I have now added your details to my blog circulation list. Delighted you managed to read EP-29 anyway. How did it reach you? As it happens, arrangements for a monograph publication are already under way – many people suggested that I should do this. As a non-academic I have no problem with displaying […]

UNDERSTANDING ECONOMICS IN ONE HOUR 1 – Overview Looking about us, what we see is the passing show. Despite every appearance of reality, it is ephemeral, ever-changing. It is Prospero’s “insubstantial pageant”. What we see is a “result” of something else, always a manifestation rather than a “cause”. It is difficult to discern the real […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 28 EUROPEAN UNION – WHAT MEMBERSHIP ENTAILS The responses to my last essay in this series prompts me to develop and clarify some of the questions it raised. It addressed the way in which important Brexit issues have been clouded by uncertainty, exacerbated by predictably negative forecasting by supposedly neutral authorities, generating […]

  EUROPEAN UNION – UNVARNISHED Prelude on terminology Uncertainty surrounding the outcome of Brexit has caused the British pound to be devalued against the main international currencies. British importers must therefore pay more pounds to buy the foreign currency required to pay for their imports of finished goods and components. Higher prices, in effect. But […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 26:   “CREATING JOBS’ – WHAT A FALLACY! My colleague Steven Spencer has reminded me of an anecdote relayed by the owner of a brand new Corvette sports car. A bystander speculated, “I wonder how many people could have been fed with the money that sports car cost?” The owner replied: “ I […]

Economic Perspectives – 25 REFLECTIONS ON RECENT TAX HYSTERIA [Early December 2017] Where we are now on the subject of taxation – clueless and lost! Widespread “tax-dodging” is the surest sign that our “tax-raising” process is seriously defective! Why doesn’t our existing tax system raise enough money to meet all government commitments? The reason is […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 24 [Early-November 2017] PROTECTIONISM IS SIMPLY “PATRONAGE” IN A MODERN GUISE Protectionist policies are by no means confined to trade deals. Yet, in every one of their guises they appeal for popular support from local commercial interests, pleading fairness, justice and equity to justify their anti-competitive political demands. Rational economic principles take […]